As the end of the year approaches, the Shiliupu market in Shanghai is becoming more and more crowded. The goods are purchased, brought in, and the people from other places, long-range, short-coated, and there are endless cars and ships. Although foreigners are short of ships in the Western War, the war has been fighting for so long, and the sailing and wooden ships in coastal, along the river, and even Liaodong have already made up for the capacity. At least the cargo ships on the Yangtze River waterway can basically meet the needs of domestic trade, but this is enough. The Shiliupu market, which is at least focused on domestic trade, was not much affected. Even because of the rise in freight prices, the various types of ships that are raised according to sales have made a lot more profits than in previous years.

In the fruit area, after the crowd of people who were picking up goods at five or six o'clock, under the unwarming sun, the shops who got up at four or five o'clock began to stretch their arms and yawn, waiting for breakfast in the stalls; on the streets specially renovated during the trade in the Sixteenth Shop last year, a lot of rotten fruits picked out when they were looking for goods in the morning were thrown away. Some of them were flattened and festered by pedestrians and vehicles coming and going, while others were intact, with rotten mouths facing the sky, emitting the unique odor of fruit rot, which spread throughout the fruit area.

Sun Shiyuan, the owner of the Dongshenglong North and South Fruit Industry, got up very early. When the business was at the stall, he asked a young man to buy a few newspapers outside. He used to read newspapers, but he only read business newspapers except for reading the China Times. But now something big happened in the capital, so he bought all kinds of newspapers during this period, including his son who applied for foreign languages ​​to junior high school. Although not all the articles in the newspapers can be understood, he can use the dictionary to understand the meanings above.

Under the incandescent lamp, the top China Times still smelled of ink was opened, and Sun Shiyuan began to read it carefully. It was different from the news that the Notice of the Re-election of Prime Minister was failed because of the excessive abstentions. Today's headlines are "The Mansion of Mr. Cai was in a tragic disaster, and the perpetrator threw bricks and surrendered by the police station". There are two photos of the Cai Mansion gate and glass being smashed on the upper right of the article, as well as the blue bricks thrown by the perpetrator. Although the black and white photos are not real, Sun Shiyuan still cursed with great relief: "Why don't you kill this bastard?!"

I read the headlines with pleasure, but the next article was about Japan: "The Japanese government hopes to invite former Prime Minister Yang to Japan to take office as Prime Minister of the Japanese Cabinet". The previous news relieved. This article raised Sun Shiyuan's heart and was so busy that he read the following text, looking at it ten lines at a glance. When he finally saw Prime Minister Yang rejecting the invitation from the Japanese government, he breathed a sigh of relief.

It is true that Zhengyang Gate will have a major event. Mr. Sun Shiyuan had long heard of the gods on Zhengyang Gate. He was burned during the Gengzi period and caused the Qing Dynasty to fall. This year, he was burned and responded to the Prime Minister's resignation. It was so amazing.

Thinking of the psychic Zhengyang Gate, Sun Shiyuan finished reading other articles related to the Prime Minister in the China Times, and opened the Imperial Daily, News, Report, and the Chinese version of the Beijing-Tianjin Times... While he was watching, the wife came out. There was a small house on the stall that issued an invoice to collect money. As the boss lady, she naturally collected money. Now there are fewer people outside to get goods early, so she just happened to go back to the house to drink water.

With a 'plash', the woman turned off the incandescent lamp at once. Looking at Sun Shiyuan who was reading the newspaper, she complained: "I don't come to the stall to read it so early. I just know that reading the newspaper, isn't it just that the Prime Minister resigned... I don't know how much it cost to buy newspapers in the past seven or eight days... It's so bright, I won't turn off the lights."

The woman complained that it was irrelevant. As soon as she turned off the light, Sun Shiyuan, who was looking at a comment on current affairs, was immediately furious: "On the light! I am concerned about state affairs. Can there be this country without the Prime Minister? Can the people of the Prime Minister live a good life? No Prime Minister..." Seeing that the woman did not turn on the light, Sun Shiyuan moved his butt and pulled the light on, and continued: "...Is there a fruit in the family blocking it? It's really a woman's home, with long hair and short knowledge!"

It’s not that men are angry that women have seen them, so they are not afraid. After hearing such a long line of words, they just asked back: “Do you know you have a fruit block in your home? You know that business is busy at the end of the year, and you are still sitting here to read newspapers. You are not a member or an official, so you are so idle..."

"I pay taxes. I am a taxpayer, and I am also a public servant of the Shanghai Fruit Office..." Sun Shiyuan was completely angry. The thick newspaper hit the table with a bang, scaring the woman. After this, the woman muttered and exited.

"Master, do you want to take apples? How many items do you want to take? This is authentic Shandong Red Fuji, sweet and crispy, all of them are good, they are all the same as the surface, and they are all fine products..." On the quiet stall, a few well-dressed masters suddenly looked at the boxes of apple samples placed outside the stall. The young man thought he was the one who was picking up the goods and immediately greeted him.

"Look first." The master in the lead seemed to be afraid of the cold, and wore a big mask, and just responded in Beijing dialect without showing any expression. After reading the apple, he said a few words to the person beside him, looked at the bananas, and finally walked to the boxes of oranges. When he picked up an orange, the young man said enthusiastically: "My master knows the goods, this is Huang Yan's orange. It sells well every year, and it is the latest trend for people..."

"Is this from the mountain or the field?" The other party suddenly asked an unexpected question. The young man was stunned. He had greeted so many peddlers who were picking up goods, but he had never been asked like this.

The young man couldn't answer, but the man standing beside the master picked up the orange and looked at it, and replied in Beijing dialect with Taizhou dialect: "Look at how thick the epidermis should be from the fields." After that, he shook his head and said, "Now in Huangyan, oranges are resistant to storage and can be sold at a price, so every family has planted oranges. In the past, they only planted in dry land, but now some paddy fields are planted. The farmer association has repeatedly banned them. There is no way."

"The people have money and convenient transportation, and the marketization of agricultural products is a natural thing. This is nothing, I'm afraid that the scale will suddenly expand too much, and the fruit will hurt the farmers." After the leader of the Beijing dialect, he asked again: "The sugar level grown in this field cannot be reached, right?"

"There is on the box." After saying that, the Taizhou dialect master looked at the mark on the side of the orange box. After reading it, he said embarrassedly: "The sugar content is less than eleven, only ten." After saying that, he explained again: "There is actually not many such goods. Most of the sugar content is more than twelve, and the lowest is eleven. I don't know what the boxes are about..."

As if the two masters had no other people's questions and answers, the young man immediately understood that these two should be the owners of goods and did not answer at the moment. He returned to the stall and sat down by himself. However, when the two were about to leave, Sun Shiyuan, who was standing in the stall and stretching, suddenly shouted: "Ah, Mr. Zhang..."

The Taizhou dialect master turned around and said a few words to the person beside him. Several people came over together. "Congratulations on getting rich. Mr. Sun!" The man named Mr. Zhang smiled and greeted Sun Shiyuan, and then brought the people beside him with another sentence, "My friends have never seen fruits, come here to take a look." Then he immediately reiterated and said, "The New Year will be closed soon. Mr. Sun, is your business this year still okay?"

"What's the point? Live a careless life." Sun Shiyuan smiled. This year's business is actually much better than last year, but the businessman is often modest, especially the boss Zhang Hanting, who is a big figure in the world. Not to mention that Tianyuan Fruit Company under his name is the owner of all fruit shops in Shiliu Shop, based on his relationship with the Prime Minister of the current dynasty, he can walk around wherever he goes. "Master Zhang, some masters, please have tea inside."

"It's better to have another day." Zhang Hanting bowed to Sun Shiyuan, "The New Year is coming soon, and farmers' associations everywhere are waiting to settle the bill and make payments."

Zhang Hanting said he was busy. Sun Shiyuan dared not stop him. He immediately sent away the few Gongs and waited for these people to walk away. He suddenly felt that the person standing beside Zhang Hanting wearing a big mask seemed to have seen him. He didn't want it to be fine. When he thought that he was shocked, he murmured: "Ah! Ah!! Could it be..., could it be..."

Yang Rui was walking with Zhang Hanting in the Shanghai Shiliupu fruit wholesale area. This once messy and stained market was completely renovated by the Shanghai Municipal Government last year. Now the docks in the market are wide, the roads are neat, and the stalls are all tall steel frame sheds. The two-story building on the inside of the shed is an office and accommodation area, just like the later Shiliupu fruit market.

"Now the banana business has expanded the fastest and the profit is the highest..." Zhang Hanting said. Yang Rui was the major shareholder of Tianyuan Fruit Company before. After the founding of the country, the fruit company was transformed into a cooperative. After the fruit cooperatives in various places, his shares dropped sharply, and it has not yet been one percent. But even so, the company's affairs are routinely reported to him by the company's general office, even if those reports and financial statements have never been opened.

"Oh, I couldn't imagine this." Yang Rui had just seen the bananas in the box marked with Tianyuan Company, but he just looked at the apples and oranges carefully.

"The main thing is the cold storage, air conditioners and ethylene have been used for banana storage and ripening on a large scale, so that the company can sell bananas all year round. The fruit farmers have tried to cut green bananas since last year, but the output is insufficient in 2-4 days, otherwise the bananas across the country can be cut green bananas and then sold abroad. Unlike orange apples, each box of bananas costs 50 cents, which is much higher than orange apples or something."

Tianyuan Fruit Company is an agricultural cooperative. Its operating model is similar to that of the American Xinqis. It helps domestic fruit cooperatives sell various fruit products under the Tianyuan brand. It is equivalent to an intermediary but not just an intermediary. The company's income comes from the sales commission of each box of products. These income is generally used for technology, channels, and publicity related to fruit sales. In addition, its shareholders are basically the farmers' associations in the fruit production areas of various places. In addition to retaining the annual profits, they will be distributed to major farmers' associations, and the farmers' associations will then distribute them to each farmer, which is quite a bit like a public welfare company.

"2-4d is a killer, and now it is out of stock everywhere!" Yang Rui sighed. This preservative used in later generations was developed according to the chemical experiments, and once it was launched, it was robbed. "This thing can not only strengthen the storage resistance of agricultural products, but also prevent the fallen flowers and fruits of crops during the flowering period. The farmers' associations in cotton producing areas in various provinces report to the jujian Academy and the Ministry of Agriculture every year. They are still for my sake, and they do not say that this thing cannot be used for fruit storage..."

Zhang Hanting also knew that 2-4d was extremely popular, and it was not that those who grew cotton could not get the goods even if they wanted to. Tianyuan Company was the only exception, but the amazing profits of banana sales throughout the year still made him unable to help saying: "This..., can't the Ministry of Industry build more factories and produce more?"

"The battle in Europe is so powerful, and the Ministry of Industry has not had time to build a synthetic ammonia factory. How can we expand the 2-4D factory? If the army did not need a large amount of cigarettes, the tobacco cured tobacco factory would have almost stopped using it to ripen the tobacco leaves." Yang Rui was wearing an old blue robe and seemed to have become a fruit dealer. "You can wait for it first. Once the war is over, the 2-4D factory will be expanded. At that time, not only will the output increase, but the price will also drop."

Yang Rui's explanation made Zhang Hanting nod and express his understanding. Then he said: "The people from the United Fruit Company came to Shanghai some time ago and seemed to want to talk to us about some cooperation..."

"What are you talking about? Are you talking about bananas?" Yang Rui's eyebrows furrowed when he heard United Fruit. This fruit company that sells bananas and can manipulate several national regimes and decides the US diplomatic strategy for Central and South America. It is really a giant bull in the fruit industry. Who said that there is no future in selling fruits? Let's see how they play it?

"Yes. It's mainly about the transfer of ripening technology, and the US Consul General in Shanghai also intervened. The main meaning is that we hope that we can transfer this technology, the price is easy to negotiate, and even the banana garden in Guatemala can be sold." Zhang Hanting said. It can be seen that he was surprised by the conditions offered by the other party.

"Ethylene is like 2-4d, is a plant growth regulation hormone. The difference is that one is ripening ripening, and the other is just the opposite. The function is to keep fresh. This positive and negative effect makes the growth cycle of crops long or short, and the products will not be put into the market in one or two months, which will facilitate farmers to raise prices, reduce rot and loss, and reduce transportation pressure. It is of great significance. Not to mention the ripening process, it is necessary to use 2-4d, just talk about ethylene, it can not only green citrus, ripen bananas, apples, avocados and other fruits. Tobacco leaves, cotton, rice, these can also be ripened. However, generally it is only used in tobacco leaves, bananas, and citrus, the most economical products. If Americans master the ethylene ripening technology, their agricultural advantages will be greatly improved."

Yang Rui's advantage of being affiliated with ethylene finally found a job after resigning. He was not happy after he said that, and said, "Let the Americans continue to smoke it with kerosene stoves. Isn't their skills very good? Don't think about the banana garden in Guatemala. United Fruit not only controls the bananas and pineapple plantations, but also controls the railways and docks there, which is to give us the plantation. Once everyone has a bad relationship, can our bananas and pineapples be transported out?"

"But will Americans find ethylene by themselves?" Zhang Hanting asked.

"Then are the technicians in your ripening warehouses reliable?" Yang Rui asked back.

"Of course it's reliable! They are all children of fruit farmers. This is everyone's job to eat, and it is absolutely impossible to leak it out." Zhang Hanting said.

"That's all." Yang Rui said, "Americans have to wait for at least twenty or thirty years to discover the secret of ethylene ripening. They only know that there is a gas in the smoke coming out of the kerosene stove that accelerates the ripening of fruits, but they don't know what this gas is.

It’s not bad for the company to do banana business. If you don’t want to have trouble, then go to Hainan to cooperate with farmers to grow bananas; if you want huge profits, then go to Nanyang, just like United Fruits in the Americas, buy land, open plantations, build railways, and build docks, so that you can earn a lot. But it’s said that if you want local indigenous species in Nanyang, the technology is difficult to keep confidential; if you ask overseas Chinese to plant them, the profit will be affected, and they are all your own people. Can you be cruel to be like foreigners and not take their lives seriously?"

"I can't do it." Zhang Hanting touched his nose, feeling a little embarrassed. He had also been abroad two years ago. United Fruit had been to the plantation in Guatemala. Of course, the place did not treat the indigenous people at all, but only treated them as slaves. Not only did he take the reputation of the company, but he was both Chinese, and he could not do such a thing.

"That's it!" Yang Rui nodded deeply. The business gangs, business banks, and workshops of this era are not new and only interested in making money, and the time-honored brands are more kind to the men. Of course, the apprentices at the bottom will be squeezed by masters and other men. The situation is indeed bad, but in general, compared with the labor-management relationship that is not owed to each other a day of work, or the employment relationship with rifles and whips in American plantations, Chinese-style businesses are still kind and humane. This is why the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Industry and Industry finally followed the requests of all walks of life and implemented the life-long employment system. According to the structure, Tianyuan Company is a fruit sales company that sells goods and receives commissions for farmers. It has to turn around to operate the bloody South American plantations. No one has the experience or the courage.

After walking around the market, the sun gradually rose. When the fruit area passed, there were vegetables. When the road went forward, the Huangpu River Wharf was passing by. The river breeze blew over, with a biting chill. Two inconspicuous carriages were waiting on the side of the road. When they saw Yang Rui passing by, they unconsciously became cautious.

"I'm looking at the market. I'll look at your reports again to see if there is anything to mention." Yang Rui said to his partner, looking very serious.

"It turned out to be you..." Zhang Hanting was very uncomfortable. He finally said it after holding it in for a long time, "You really want to sell fruits with me? What should I do if I do state affairs?"

"State affairs?" Yang Rui laughed, "But Zhang died and he would not eat the pig. After all, they came to choose a better person..."

Before Yang Rui could finish his speech, several people came over from the other end of the road. As soon as they ran, the guards around began to be alert, but the more they did, the more they became, and one of them showed something and said, "This is my reporter's certificate. I am the declaration reporter. I want to interview the Prime Minister..."

Unexpectedly, the reporter actually touched this place. Yang Rui shook his head and smiled at Zhang Hanting: "It's still a great reporter in Shanghai! I've been squatting here."

"You go back quickly, I'll deal with them." Zhang Hanting knew that Yang Rui didn't want to see the reporter, so he immediately met him and said loudly: "Everyone, everyone, Lord Yang asked me to tell you..."

The carriage drove out of the Sixteenth Shop and headed towards the earlier concession. At this time, the tram full of fish and shrimps, and the passers-by were stuck in the clock for fear of missing the factory's start-up whistle. Buses, pedestrians, shops, traffic police, sanitation workers, and snack stalls. This later demon city with a population of more than two million people gradually revealed the weather as the first city in the Far East. Most importantly, it is no longer the concession, but the Shanghai Special Market.

The carriage drove into the former No. 14 Ruyili, Ruyili, the British Concession, which was rented by Mrs. Huang more than ten years ago as a laboratory. It has now been bought by Yang Rui and turned into a private property. As for No. 12, Mr. Huang's family still lives there, and there is still a bedding that Yang Rui used before in the pavilion on the second floor. Mrs. Huang would go up to clean every once in a while.

"Are you back?" After entering the yard, she saw the woman's smiling face. After Xianfeng left, she changed a lot, "It's time to have a meal."

After the woman finished speaking, she was the son who got up early to study. He came up and said, "Dad, it's so cold here. I'm so cold, and my brother is so cold. Let's go back."

The biggest difference between the houses in Shanghai and the capital is that there is no hot kang. In addition, the wind here is cold, so although there is a fire cage at night, my son still shrank into a ball when he sleeps, which is very uncomfortable.

"Remember your book!" Yang Rui pretended to be serious, "Thinking about the soldiers of the Revival Army, the rivers and wars are even colder than this, and you are not ashamed."

"But my mother said that when I grow up, I will be a fruit seller and not fight." Yang Wuming didn't know where he heard this rumor. Whenever Yang Rui used the soldiers of the Fuxing Army to motivate him, he would use this as a rebuttal.

"Who said you were going to sell fruits when you grew up?" Cheng Xu looked at Yang Rui and smiled, dragged his son in. "It's time to eat, it's time to eat." When she shouted, the other two boys who had long been sitting at the table happily beat the chopsticks. However, they were still not good at speaking at the age of two. They called "eat" and did not shout "fried". But the atmosphere in the living room was messy, and they were afraid that the world would be in chaos. When they saw Yang Rui knocking, they shouted loudly.

Cheng Xu hurriedly snatched the chopsticks of the two children, then gently slapped each of them on the butt, blaming him: "Sit down to eat, and then make trouble again and lock you up..."

A wife and three sons were sitting at the table and eating at first glance. This was a family. Every time Yang Rui saw this scene, he felt a little uncomfortable. After all, the people he was used to being a lone hero suddenly became more concerned. After thinking about this, he thought how great it would be if the fairy phoenix was still there and the whole family was happy.

"It turned out that the Jiemin family was smashed. You really..." The woman suddenly said that it was the first time she mentioned serious business since Yang Rui resigned.
Chapter completed!